Samuel Pickett, WHJE public relations director and senior, anticipated getting into the top three percent GPA of his class during his sophomore year. Although he was not devastated when he learned he did not, it was a bit disappointing. However, this unmet goal helped motivate him more to work hard. By junior year, he had gotten into the top three percent. The four AP classes and immense time spent studying outside of school had paid off.

Motivated Millennials

A recent TIME magazine article titled “The Me Me Me Generation” stated that millennials—those born approximately between 1980 and 2000—have a high self-esteem which leads to laziness. However, Purdue psychology professor William Graziano said that millennials remain very similar to previous generation in terms of self-esteem and laziness, despite cultural change. He said he thinks millennials are neither particularly lazy nor have excessive self-esteem.

Claire Corvari, varsity cross country runner and junior, said although she does have high self-esteem, she is not lazy. In fact, her self-esteem has caused her to be more motivated because she knows she is capable of accomplishing things if she puts more effort into them.

For example, Corvari has had to put much energy and time into running. In the summer, she wakes up at 7 a.m. every weekday to run with her teammates. She said she also has to endure many tough workouts, including one called “steady state,” in which she runs for eight miles, alternating between 6:30 mile times and 6:45 mile times without stopping.

Pickett is motivated as well, but he said he does not have an excessively high self-esteem. In order to reach his goals, he relies solely on hard work, as was the case when he attained the WHJE public relations director position.

“I had to work very hard to show that I was dedicated to the station, and I was capable of inherent work,” Pickett said. “I turned all my assignments in on time. I was always enthusiastic at events. I made sure that the work I turned in was high quality. I was very detail oriented. I just did the best that I could.”

Unmet Goals

In fact, the TIME article stated that millennials will end up with many unmet expectations because they have such high goals, yet they sometimes do not put much effort in accomplishing them. Graziano, however, said he does not believe that to be the case either.

Pickett and Corvari both have had unmet expectations, but they said these ultimately helped them work harder and achieve more goals in the long run. Corvari did not reach a goal once, during the second race of sophomore year.

“I expected to not do amazing, but at least do decently, and I ended up being a minute slower than I expected to be, and that was pretty disappointing. The race after that was one of my better races of the season though…I improved a lot the second race,” Corvari said. “I was pretty disappointed in how I did the previous race, so I was determined to prove myself and do better.”

The Future

Graziano said although motivation is shaped by events early on in childhood, self-esteem and goal setting can change as millennials get older.

“When you’re older you can pick the environments you want to be in,” Graziano said. “If you can pick the environments you want to be in, then they’re more compatible with you. So your self-esteem isn’t necessarily going to be kicked around as much.”

In addition, he said that people tend to get feedback on their goals when they get older, which may affect goal setting.

“Some people have very unrealistic expectations about what’s going to happen, you know, being rich, having a family, having a career, having three children. All of these things can conflict with each other and makes it hard (to accomplish everything),” Graziano said.

 The Good and Bad

Corvari, Graziano and Pickett all said that there are pros and cons to having high self-esteem and high goals.

Those with high self-esteem can believe that they can accomplish things and try again in the face of failure, Graziano said. However, thse people sometimes force unpleasant things about themselves, out of their minds, leading to them having a partly inaccurate representation of themselves.

Also, Graziano said big goals are hard to accomplish and may require one to accept others’ help and be upset. Moreover, hard work is often needed. All of these factors can make it easier to give up on big goals. However, they let people make progress.

“If your goal is just to get up in the morning, you’re not helping the human race, are you? But if your goal is to reduce pollution or to make life easier for people who are handicapped, that’s making the world a better place,” Graziano said.

Pickett said despite the good chance that some larger goals may not be achieved, goal setting results in him working harder because of motivation.

“For my goal of getting into Yale, there is a high possibility that that will not happen. The con of that goal is that if it doesn’t happen, it’s a disappointment. But the pro is that the possibility of it happening, having that as motivation, outweighs the disadvantages,” Pickett said. “…I’ve worked hard and done the work, and so even if I don’t get in, it puts me in a good position. I’ve studied hard and done my work in high school, and that’s all that matters.”